It's not everyday you see a college baseball team with the top two consensus picks in the upcoming MLB Draft. The LSU Tigers are that team with that amount of talent. LSU has been at the top of the rankings all year long. Many people believed this team could be on of the most talented teams in the past decade. The Tigers are currently 36-8 with a victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday 10-0.
Auburn has had an up and down season. It was apparent early in the opening series against Indiana that pitching would be an issue. While Auburn's hitting is one of the best in the SEC, its pitching is towards the bottom of the conference.
When Joseph Gonzalez went down with an injury, an already young pitching room was asked to pick up more responsibilities than expected. Auburn picked up a stunning series victory over the No. 2 South Carolina in Columbia last weekend. Auburn now looks to upset another SEC foe this weekend. With a series victory over LSU, it would give Auburn a better chance of making the NCAA Tournament.
While LSU has been the best team in the country, they have some bizarre losses on the season. Losses to Nicholls and Louisiana have left many questioning how far this team can go in the postseason. Auburn meanwhile is 25-18-1 on the season, and has its fair share of strange defeats. The Tigers lost a series to Southeastern Louisiana. They also lost to Troy, and UAB. Auburn will look to peak at the right time and make its second post season in a row.
For LSU, its best bat is without question Dylan Crews, who is the projected first overall pick in the MLB draft. His batting average is .486 on the season with 13 home runs alongside. Its ace is Paul Skenes, the projected second overall pick. Skenes has been compared to Stephen Strasburg by experts. Skenes ERA is 1.93 on the season, with opponents batting .159 against him.
Auburn's most consistent bat is Ike Irish. Irish is batting a .370 on the season. Bryson Ware has caught the eye of MLB scouts for his breakout season as he is batting a .347 on the season with 18 home runs. While the pitching has struggled, Tommy Vail is starting to find a rhythm. Vail has thrown an ERA of 3.80 with opponents batting average at .174.
Auburn will look to what it did last weekend in Columbia for its plan of attack against LSU. Auburn's pitching got critical outs in big spots to help Auburn win that series. The only game the Tigers lost is when the pitching was not on point in an 8-7 loss to close out the series.
LSU won't want to turn this into a high-scoring contest, as the Bayou Bengals will look to stop Auburn's most valuable asset, its offense. LSU has the bats to keep up with Auburn. However, in the few losses LSU has had this season, it has been when opponents have put up a high number of runs. The lowest amount of runs it allowed in a loss this season was six runs to Nicholls. LSU will look to its pitching to shut down Auburn early, and let its offense take over.
The first game is Friday at 6:00 p.m. CST on SEC Network+. The second game is Saturday at 8:00 p.m on the SEC Network. The final game of the series is Sunday at 1:00 p.m. on SEC Network+. All games will be played at Plainsman Park.
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TP is a senior from Montgomery, Alabama, majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2022.
Twitter: @tp_hammock
